Week 8: Playing the Hot Hand

Welcome to Week 8 of the Brew Crew Corner. We are at the point of the fantasy season where we must decide to play the hot hand over your top picks. If your top draft picks are not performing you have to consider not using them at all over the hot player unless they have a great matchup. Players like Miles Austin, Ray Rice and Vernon Davis are helping owners make a playoff push.

Carson Palmer – 20/24, 233 yards, 5 TDs. Palmer was almost perfect as he reminds us that he can still be a top-notch QB in this league. It was the most touchdowns in a game for Palmer since Week 2 in 2007 when he tossed six. Palmer came cheap on draft day and is now playing like a fantasy starter.

Miles Austin – 6 receptions, 171 yards, 2 TDs. For the second game in a row, Austin finds the endzone twice and puts up a ton of yards. Ride the hot streak while you can because there will be games where he doesn’t light it up like this.

Vernon Davis – 7 receptions, 93 yards, 3 TDs. Was Alex Smith the difference for Davis? Davis has been playing well this season. He has six touchdowns, as many as he had the past two years combined, and has almost as many receiving yards as all of last season. He’s on pace for 77 catches, 946 yards and 10+ touchdowns.

The Urinal Cake Award

Awarded to the fantasy player who you would like to, well you know.

Hines Ward – 1 reception, 3 yards. Ward has been tops for the whole season and coming off a game where he had 159 yards and touchdown you would have expected another good outing with the Vikings secondary beat up.

Braylon Edwards – 1 reception, 14 yards. Playing the Raiders didn’t help Edwards’ stats. He was thrown to just twice and has just 54 yards the past two weeks. Edwards is playing in the same season he’s played in Cleveland so he has no excuses.

Terrell Owens – 3 receptions, 27 yards. These days, Owens is good for three catches and 40 yards which he is averaging over the season. If you can get anyone to trade for him good luck, if not it maybe time to kick him to the curb.

MATCHUPS

The matchups I like this week for QBs:

Jay Cutler against the Browns. The Bears looked awful last week as they were killed by the Bengals. Cutler had a decent stat game but I haven’t liked what I’ve seen from him this season as he’s been making bad decisions with 10 interceptions and he’s been making poor throws to his receivers. He needs to get back on track and that begins this week as he faces the Browns at home. He’s facing a Browns team that is giving up 25.6 points per game (27th) with 244.3 pass yards (24th) and 10 touchdowns allowed. The Bears need a game like this as they are falling behind in the division.

David Garrard against the Titans. Even though Vince Young is getting the start this week in hopes to turn the team around, it doesn’t change how the defense is played. The Titans are last in the league in points given up per game with 33 and in passing yards at 310.7. The Titans also have given up the most passing touchdowns in the league at 19 through six games. That’s more than three touchdowns a game. The Jaguars have had their ups and down this season but they can generate some offense which will be the difference in this game. As of right now, the Titans are the worst team in football.

Marc Bulger against the Lions. This is the only time I will recommend Bulger for the rest of his career. For some of you, the bye weeks and the injuries have taken its toll. You have Tom Brady off this week and the waivers are thinner than a supermodel. So you roll the dice on Bulger, who can be servicable in the right matchup and this is it. This game will be one the fans will like to forget, where there will be a lot of blown plays on both sides and plenty of scoring. The Lions are allowing 31.3 (31st) points per game with 258.5 passing yards given up (30th) with 17 passing touchdowns through six games.

The Matchups I like this week for RBs:

Steve Slaton against the Bills. Slaton has come on the past few weeks and has a great matchup against a Bills team that has struggled against the run. The Bills give up 172.4 rushing yards (32nd) with nine touchdowns allowed and a 5.2 average per carry. With Andre Johnson dealing with an injury, even if he plays look for Slaton to carry the load this week.

Ronnie Brown/Ricky Williams against the Jets. This is the second meeting between these two teams, and in the first game the Dolphins running game beat the Jets defense. The two combined for 151 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Expect plenty of Wildcat and for the Dolphins to run often. The Jets defense hasn’t been great against the run as they allow 116.1 rushing yards (22nd) with two of the four rushing touchdowns allowed coming from Miami.

Brandon Jacobs against the Eagles. This is one of those games where you’re going to throw stats out the window and expect the unexpected in this game. I’m going against the crowd here and picking Jacobs to finally bust out this week. It’s going to be crazy in Philadelphia this Sunday with the Giants playing the Eagles at 1 p.m. and then the World Series between the Yankees and Phillies at night. This has got to be the greatest tailgating experience ever as the two Philly teams share the same parking lot. This is going to be a slugfest and Jacobs can throw some haymakers.

The matchups I don’t like this week for QBs:

Alex Smith against the Colts. Smith played well last week and almost pulled out the win, and for his efforts he has reclaimed his starting job. Unfortunately he will start against the Colts defense, who is second in the league in points allowed at 12.8 and giving up just 179.8 passing yards with only two passing yards surrendered. The Colts defense also has six interceptions and 16 sacks through six games. It’s going to be a tough game for Smith.

Joe Flacco against the Broncos. This is going to be a tough game as the Broncos are looking to continue rolling and the Ravens need a win bad after dropping three straight. The Broncos defense has been tough as they are allowing only 11 points per game (first) and give up just 182.8 passing yards (eighth) with just three passing touchdowns to six interceptions and 21 sacks in six games.

Jake Delhomme against the Cardinals. Jake the Mistake can’t get a break and this could be his last start as a Panther. The team should have pulled the plug on him but John Fox is going to go down with the ship clinging to the hope that Jake somehow returns to glory. Not going to happen this week facing the Cardinals, who are playing great defense the past two weeks. Remember last time Delhomme faced the Cardinals in the playoffs they picked him off five times. Delhomme will get to two before he’s benched and it could happen early.

The matchups I don’t like this week for RBs:

Julius Jones against the Cowboys. This is more about the poor running game of the Seahawks. Jones’ last outing consisted of five carries for five yards, and over his last three games he is averaging 21.3 rushing yards with no touchdowns. The Seahawks are averaging 90.3 rushing yards (28th) and have 3.3 yards per carry and one rushing touchdown among all RBs, which came in Week 1. The Cowboys run defense allows 109.3 rushing yards (16th) with three rushing touchdowns given up.

Adrain Peterson against the Packers. Don’t expect a big day from Peterson. He may reach the endzone, but he will be limited in yards as the Packers played him well in Week 4, holding him to 55 rushing yards. He did score in that game but that was at home. This game is going to be crazy as the Brett Favre have and havenots turn up the noise and everyone comes ready to play defense. The Packers will be hungry and they won’t want to lose to Favre at home. The Packers defense has been stepping up lately. They are allowing 16 points per game (fifth) and 97.5 rushing yards (12th) with just two rushing yards.

Marshawn Lynch against the Texans. The Bills won last week even though the defense gave up a ton of yards. Still, they managed to win. The Bills running game has not carried this offense like it should. They are averaging 111.9 rushing yards (15th) but Lynch has scored just one TD, which was against the Panthers. One commentator called Lynch the Crabman by the way he’s been running the ball. Some of it is due to the offensive line that has allowed 21 sacks and averages just 3.9 yards per carry. The team has just one run over 40 yards. The Texans defense is allowing 115.6 rushing yards (21st) but will look to take an early lead, forcing Buffalo to throw.

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